Iditarod

One musher has regrets. Another is focused on canine appetite. And a third is relieved to have survived the "spiciest" trail.

It was about 7:15am, and Schwing had just seen a press release about a snowmachiner hitting Aily Zirkle and Jeff King en route to Nulato overnight, killing a dog and injuring others. "Zach - get up! GET UP!" I started making calls and poking at the computer while Schwing roused her pilot and basically sprinted toward the plane, and Nulato.

It’s not surprising given his name. Paul is part of the the Beatles litter and he’s named after Paul McCartney.

The Iditarod rookie came in for a rather lengthy interview last week. We talked about his past and present, and, among other things, Quince’s experiences being transgender. As far as we know, he’s the first openly trans person in the Iditarod.

Hugh Neff has finished the Iditarod 13 times, placing as high as 5th in 2011. But over the past few years, he has had trouble in both the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest.

Reigning Iditarod champion Brent Sass has scratched from this year’s race, due to what race officials described as “periodontal health” issues. So 31 teams remained in the race Saturday, and in this episode we hear from the chase pack-turned lead pack about how they were feeling about heading up the Yukon River, plus more from the top rookies in this year’s race. We have a powerhouse Dog of the Day with a funny, uh, pungent name, and a listener question about sled dog breeds that led us to the famous poodle musher.

Nearly all of last year’s top dog teams are returning to the Iditarod, though some of the mushers have changed.

Dozens of mushers and hundreds of sled dogs dashed down city streets and trails Saturday for the 11-mile event.